Tues night I had the great pleasure to visit the Watauga River Watershed Alliance and talk to them about what we do and how we can work together. While there I visited the Radford Quarry that this group has recently filed a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue for polluting Doe Creek - a lovely trout fishery.

I then went to the Watauga Chapter of the Sierra Club’s meeting. My goodness, the spread! The food was fabulous and the company highly entertaining.

Carl is the stream clean up man and he had an interesting story to tell: While doing a stream cleanup, he found two plastic bags stuffed under rocks. When he pulled them out and looked inside, he discovered the bodies of two pit bulls. Perhaps the losers of a dog fight? A little while later he found another bag with drug paraphernalia in it. He called the Sheriff’s Office and they came out and conducted an investigation. If you find drug items or other items that look suspicious during a clean up, do not hesitate to call the authorities. Please be careful when handling trash during clean ups.

We were treated to a visit by Jennifer Gerbasi who was our Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for almost two years. She left us for Houma Louisiana and motherhood. We also got to meet Sophia, Jennifer’s daughter. Awwww…… she’s so sweet!

Here’s an update of the bills that we are watching:

Stop Work Order. This bill is dead for lack of a second in the House SubCommittee on Environment.

Limited Resources bill: There were some negotiations that took place on the Senate side. Sen. Southerland introduced an amendment to this bill that wipes out the definition of water and replaces it with a clean up of the Nolichucky thereby making the attempt to change the definition dead for this year. The opposition’s lobbyist stopped me in the hall before committee and told me that they are finished with this bill. We aren’t declaring victory yet, but we think it will be very soon.

Pigeon River: This bill changes the location of water testing for pollution coming into Tennessee from the Evergreen Paper Mill (formerly Blue Ridge, formerly Champion). Amendments for this bill more fully indicate how TDEC will take those samples. This bill passed and is being signed by both Senate and House Speakers. Yay!

We’ll keep you posted!

Hey Everyone,

The Tennessee Clean Water Network sponsors an annual essay contest with prizes for essays about Tennessee water. The prizes are awarded in honor of the late Wilma Dykeman, the 2007 recipient of the Bill Russell River Hero Award. Wilma Dykeman’s legacy includes being the writer of 16 books, including The French Broad, being named Tennessee Conservation Writer of the Year, holding the honorary title of Tennessee State Historian, and leaving a love of nature and environmental stewardship and education for future generations.

So sharpen your pencils and submit your finest writing. For more information and contest rules, go to http://www.tcwn.org/events/essaycontest.php

RvH

This year we decided that we wanted a greater presence at the legislature, so we are working our bills and also assisting the Tennessee Conservation Voters. We have been following a number of bills. Some needed to be killed and others passed. Here is a quick summary of what we’ve found.

1. By far the worst bill at the legislature this year is a bill called the Limited Resources bill and its amendment (which is still not online). This bill would strip protection of about 30.000 miles of streams by cleverly stating that any stream not meeting its use would be reclassified as a “limited resource water” and unprotected by the state. The waters that do not meet their uses are found on the 303d list. Therefore, that entire list is up for grabs as is the TMDL program that works to make sure those uses are attained. The sponsors are Representative Joe McCord and Senator Steve Southerland . We are working hard to kill this bill. Help us by letting the sponsors and committee members know that you want water protected, not destroyed. Ask them to take this bill off notice.

2. Stop work orders. Currently, TDEC is unable to issue a stop work order on stormwater construction sites. This bill would give them that authority as well as require fines as stated in the water quality control act. Our primary sponsors are Senator Ketron and Representative Buck . Please thank them for supporting good water legislation. This bill is on the calendar to be considered in both the House and Senate Environment committees on April 9. Please call committee members and ask them to vote for this bill.

Senate Environment Committee:

• Tommy Kilby , Chair
• Dewayne Bunch, Vice-Chair
• Doug Jackson, Secretary

Raymond Finney, Roy Herron, Bill Ketron, Steve Roller, Steve Southerland and Mike Williams

House Environment Committee:

• Frank Buck, Chair
• John Tidwell, Vice-Chair
• Brenda Gilmore, Secretary

William Baird, Willie Borchert, Richard Floyd, George Fraley, David Hawk, Mike Kernell, Joe McCord, Frank Niceley

3. Scenic Vistas Act: This bill would have prevented mountain top removal in this state. Sadly, it died in the house sub committee on environment.

If you’d like to watch the subcommittee and committee hearings, you may do so at:

http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/house/video.htm

I will try to post the latest happenings in the legislature on Thurs, so check back then or if you sign up for our RSS feed, you’ll get a prompt in your email directing you to this blog.

Let me know if you’d like updates on other pieces of legislation or if you have ideas of legislation you’d like us to work on next year.

RvH